Hasina Refuses to Apologise for Protester Killings

Sheikh Hasina

Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has refused to apologise for the deadly crackdown on street protests that led to her downfall last year, during one of her first interviews since being deposed.

Prosecutors in Bangladesh are seeking the death penalty for Hasina, accusing her of crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering security forces to open fire on student protesters, killing up to 1,400 people.

Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for more than 15 years, fled to India on 5 August 2024 after a mass uprising toppled her government.

Asked if she would apologise to the families of those killed, Hasina said she “mourns each and every child, sibling, cousin, and friend we lost as a nation” but denied ordering lethal force, describing the allegations as politically motivated.

She claimed that the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus was preventing her Awami League party from contesting upcoming elections.

“The International Crimes Tribunal is a sham court presided over by an unelected government consisting of my political opponents,” Hasina said. “Because of my family’s history, nobody understands better than I do the dangers of political assassinations, and this move by the ICT is part of that ugly tradition.”

Hasina defended her handling of last year’s protests, calling them a “violent insurrection” and attributing the high casualty figures to “breakdowns in discipline among security forces on the ground.” She added: “As a leader, I take responsibility, but the claim that I ordered the shooting is simply wrong.”

She also said her government had launched an independent inquiry into the killings, which was later shut down by the interim administration.

The crackdown drew international outrage. Amnesty International described the death toll as “a shocking indictment of the authorities’ intolerance of protest,” while UN human rights chief Volker Turk called the attacks “particularly shocking and unacceptable.”

Hasina disputed the death toll of 1,400, claiming it was “inflated for propaganda purposes.”

The protests began last July with students demanding the abolition of quotas in government jobs for relatives of freedom fighters. The movement quickly evolved into a nationwide uprising involving people from all walks of life.

In a separate written interview, Hasina reiterated that “the charge that I personally directed security forces to open fire is bogus,” though she admitted that “some mistakes were made within the chain of command.”

She maintained that decisions by senior officials were “proportionate and made in good faith to minimise loss of life.”

Prosecutors insist the trial is fair, citing verified audio recordings suggesting Hasina ordered security forces to “use lethal weapons” against demonstrators — claims she dismissed as being “taken out of context.”